


where the pebble meets the avalanche

by vifetoile



Series: a never-ending chain [2]
Category: Kubo and the Two Strings (2016), Mulan (1998)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-14
Updated: 2017-04-14
Packaged: 2018-10-18 21:57:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10625928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vifetoile/pseuds/vifetoile
Summary: Where a wandering shamisen player with one eye meets the newly cognizant - and currently disguised - Avatar.





	

She was born in the springtime, in a small village far removed from the glittering Water Tribe capitol. Her father had traveled far to the south in his youth as a warrior, and he named her after the most beautiful tree he had ever seen: a magnolia, or  _ Mu Lan  _ tree. 

Mulan was the delight of her parents’ age, a clever child, always eager to please. But she could never quite fit in: her Waterbending forms were clumsy and splattered rather than graceful and smooth; her tea ceremony was atrocious, and her calligraphy worse. She made a disaster of her meeting with the village matchmaker, who publicly humiliated her, saying, “You may look like a bride, but you will never bring your family honor!” 

And then war came to the Water Tribe - pirates flying under the gold-and-black eyed banner of Shen Yu were raiding the coasts and taking slaves. And so the Chieftain of all the tribes sent forth a call for one able-bodied man from each family to serve his nation. 

Mulan watched with horror as her father took his conscription. That night, Mulan decided her father would not die for honor. She who had never  _ quite  _ pleased, had never exactly been a perfect daughter, cut her hair and donned her father’s old armor, and rode her family’s black buffalo-horse to the war camp. She took the name “Ping” and answering to the handsome Captain Li Shang.

 

One evening, the men were sitting around a campfire, swapping yarns and tall tales. Somehow this turned into talk of past Avatars. 

“Isn’t the Avatar supposed to be a Water Tribesman this time around?” Yao said. “Could sure use  _ him  _ in a fight.” 

“He’s probably born in the South,” said Ling, slurping a mouthful of noodles. “Fat good that’ll do us.” 

“Or born a girl,” Yao said with a sneer. The men nodded dolefully. Mulan said nothing.

“There are those,” said Chien Po, “Who travel the world searching for the Avatar, so that he - or she - may begin their proper training. I trust they know what they are doing.” 

“Travel the whole world?” Yao asked. “Searching for one baby?”

“Must be an adult by now,” Ling remarked. “Avatar Byeong-ho died, what, seventeen, eighteen years ago?”

“Their methods are mysterious,” Chien Po admitted. 

Gradually, the men got up and left for bed. Ping remained. When Mulan was sure no one else was looking, she passed her bare hand over the fire, and drew it back quickly. It was foolishness, utter foolishness. 

But Mulan couldn’t help but notice - her hand was not burned.

 

They met the pirates in the wintertime, on the coast of a small island that consisted mostly of a long-dead volcano, now covered in snow. The small Water Tribe regiment attacked the pirates’ camp, but the pirates fought with a ruthless ferocity. 

Mulan, standing by Captain Shang, looked up and up to the mountain. She was aware of a voice, a stirring inside of her, and she carefully reasoned, ‘ _ One small bit of pressure _ ,  _ in the right place _ …’ And she aimed at the mountain, and  _ bent _ \--

Captain Shang, who was standing by Ping, saw his eyes flash white, and stay white, as the earth beneath their feet shook, and the snow that covered the mountain began to fall - 

Shen Yu saw the same thing, and he understood at once, and he lashed out with his sword, but the soldier of the mountains took no notice of their wound -

Mulan shook her head and took control -  _ ‘What  _ was  _ that _ ?’ but no time to wonder - she bent the snow around them as furiously as she could, and she didn’t even realize that she was bending air as well, and the avalanche crashed down upon the pirates but spared their regiment. 

When all was still, Mulan was shaking with the effort, and while she tried to understand what had been that force inside of her, she looked and saw that Captain Shang was  _ bowing  _ to her. As the rest of the regiment stared, Shang lifted his head and said:

“Ping, you are not only the strongest waterbender I have ever seen - you also bent the earth and the air. Avatar Ping, we owe you our lives.” 

The regiment - her friends - the men who has cuffed her, trained with her, mocked her and welcomed her as one of their own - they all bowed before her. 

Mulan could not speak. She could barely breathe, come to that. And the hurt in her side suddenly bloomed, and she fell over. As darkness surrounded her, Shang said, just to her, “Hold on, Ping… Hold on.” 

 

Mulan’s eyes flickered open, and someone pressed a cup of tea to her lips. She gathered her wits together enough to swallow, and lay down again. Her world spun. She could hear someone chanting an old prayer to the ocean, to help with healing. 

The voice accompanied her, down into blackness, and out through a fog, and into -

More darkness, but a soothing kind of darkness, softened by the flicker of a candle. She was in a tent, alone.

Not alone. A ways to her side sat a middle-aged man. He was playing a shamisen. 

Mulan sat up, and the pain in her side scratched at her again. She looked down and saw that her chest was bandaged. She drew up her blankets with a gasp, sweat breaking out all over. 

“Do not be afraid,” said the man. “Your secret is safe with me.” 

She looked at the man again. He wore red, and his left eye was covered with a trim patch. “Who are you?” she asked. 

“Who am I?” he repeated. “Call me the guardian of lost souls. No, no, that was just a little joke. I am a healer. An Airbender. And my name is Kubo.” 

“You don’t look like an Air Nomad…” in her confusion, that was the one fact that Mulan could grab onto. 

“I didn’t say I was an Air Nomad. Merely an Airbender.” He plucked at his shamisen some more, a soothing lullaby. “I have an unusual lineage. But it allows me to see with some clarity.”

Mulan did not relax her death-grip on the blankets. “You know I’m the… the…” She swallowed. “The Avatar?” 

“Your gallant captain told me that. He seemed to think it would be a greater impetus to heal you. I would have done my utmost no matter who you were, of course. What is your real name?” 

“Mulan,” she whispered, as the shamisen strings fluttered a little louder, than stilled. 

“What a fine name,” Kubo said, with a nod. “There is something else I can see. Shen Yu still lives.” 

Mulan did not question how. She had seen the willpower shining in Shen Yu’s hazel eyes - he was a man that it would take more than a mere avalanche to stop. “What can I do?”

“Your first priority right now is to recover your strength. What you can learn of Earthbending wouldn’t hurt, either. Shen Yu will bide his time. He was injured in the avalanche, too.” 

“I should  _ hope  _ so,” Mulan muttered. Kubo chuckled, then sobered quickly.

“I do not estimate he will wait more than a season. His next target will be you.” 

“I’m not strong enough,” Mulan said. “I’ve never been strong. I’m - I’m  _ clever _ , is what I am, only sort of clever.” 

“Cleverness brought down an avalanche, as I remember,” said Kubo. “Your training has given you strength and discipline; you are a true Waterbender by nature. You think in creative ways. That will help you. And you must learn meditation - Avatars past may speak to you. Are you all right?” 

Mulan had turned away. “I never dreamed of being the Avatar,” she said. “All I wanted was to protect my father. And… I wanted to prove myself. Prove that even a single daughter had some value.”

“You are worthwhile,” said Kubo. “As Mulan, and Mulan alone, you are full of worth and value. Never doubt that.” He reached into his sleeve and drew out a gamepiece - a while lotus tile. “Do you play Pai Sho?” 

“Yes; with my father.” Tears pricked at her eyes.

“The white lotus is unassuming, blooming quietly in its corner. But place it at the proper junction, and the entire board around it changes.” He reached out with the tile in his hand. Mulan took it. 

“Heh.” Mulan gave a little smile at the piece in her hand. “That’s what I thought, when I set off the avalanche. A bit of force, in the right place...” She yawned. 

“Now, I think you are tired. Lie back down. Keep healing. Are there any songs you would like to hear?” 

Mulan lay down, and pulled her blankets up. “The Ballad of the Snow Monkey,” she said. “My mother used to sing that as she pounded rice.” 

“That’s one of my favorites,” Kubo said with a smile. He plucked at the strings of his shamisen, and his low voice escorted Mulan, Avatar of the Northern Water Tribe, called Ping, to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> If anyone wants to write more in this AU, please feel free! Just give me credit and let me know. :-)


End file.
